Hidden
by the electric phantom
Summary: Tim has a huge secret. Now, his secret is revealed. Will Gibbs be able to help him through a difficult time? Warning: death and sickness. Very sad!
1. Secrets

It was a normal day at NCIS. They had just finished up a case and were currently filling out paperwork. Everything seemed fine. Then, Tim's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" he asked. He paused to listen, looking worried.

"Yes, this is he." He seemed confused.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, looking thoroughly concerned. His team was watching as his facial expression turned from concern to shock.

"Are you sure?" There was a pause as whatever had happened was confirmed to him.

"Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can." There was a pause as he glanced at Gibbs.

"No, I'll get there. It's no problem. Have you said anything yet?" Tim looked around at his coworkers.

"Alright, I'll get on the first flight I can." He hung up the phone.

"Boss, I'm gonna need a week off," he said seriously.

"For what?" Tony asked.

"No time," Tim said, "I have to get there fast."

"Where, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"Cleveland," Tim said as he typed quickly, most likely booking himself on a flight.

"Is everything alright?" Ziva asked. Tim didn't respond.

"It's nothing anyone has to worry about. Look, I probably won't have my phone on at all, so don't worry if I don't pick up. Actually, just don't worry. I'll be back in a week." He got up, pulling his coat on as he left.

"Well, that was unusual," Tony said, "Not like McGee to leave like that."

"It must be important," Ziva said. Gibbs nodded, not liking this one bit. He had every intention of following his agent to Cleveland, but not until he knew what was going on.

Tim was settled down on the plane comfortably when he made the call.

"Hello?" a little boy answered.

"Hey, buddy. How are you?" he asked, smiling a little.

"I'm okay. Are you coming?"

"I'm on my way."

Gibbs entered the director's office unannounced as usual. Vance sighed.

"What now, Gibbs?"

"McGee just left," Gibbs said, wanting to throw Vance off guard. He did.

"Left? He quit?"

"He got a phone call and requested a week off. He said he was going to Cleveland." Vance raised an eyebrow.

"Why would he want to go there?" Gibbs shrugged.

"Whatever it was, it must be important. Any ideas, Leon?"

"Not a clue. Why don't you talk to Miss Sciouto? She might know what's going on."

"Thanks, Leon."

Gibbs went down to the lab, only to find that Abby knew nothing either. It was frustrating to not know what was wrong. He needed to make sure his agent was okay, that he wasn't in trouble. Only then would he stop and rest. He sat down and decided to dig.

Ten minutes later, he was on his way to the airport. He needed to talk to Tim ASAP. This needed to be dealt with. Now.


	2. Bridging

Tim sat down next to the bed. The little boy smiled at him.

"Hi,!" the boy said weakly. Tim smiled.

"Hey, Brogan," he said gently, "How are ya feeling, buddy?" Brogan smiled weakly.

"I've been better." Tim sighed as he moved the blankets.

"I know."

Gibbs did not waste any time when it came to finding his agent. He ran from the airport to a taxi and immediately went to the hospital. He entered Rainbow Baby and Children's Hospital to see bright, friendly colors all around him.

However, he was not interested in them. He needed to find Tim, talk to him. He needed to be with his agent in this time of need. That was why he ran up the stairs, not caring that people stared at him. He had one thing on his mind: making sure his youngest wasn't alone.

Tim and Brogan sat and talked for a long time. Brogan, however, seemed to be tuckered out.

"Why don't you get some rest?" Tim offered, "I'll be here when you wake up."

The little boy nodded and drifted off to sleep. Tim pressed his warm face against the cool glass of the window. He had to keep a brave face on as long as Brogan was awake, but the moment the boy fell asleep, he could let himself fall apart.

Why? Why? Why couldn't his life be easier? Why did everything that mattered to him have to be taken away from him? It didn't seem fair! Then again, his life did seem to be that way.

"You alright, Tim?" asked a voice. He turned around to see Gibbs standing in the doorway.

"Boss? What are you doing here?"

"You alright?"

"I'm fine, Boss. I just-"

"I know what's going on. I know everything about Brogan."

"Boss, how do you-"

"Not hard,Tim. Talk to me." Tim sighed and looked Gibbs in the eye.

"I was volunteering at the children's hospital and I met Brogan. He's the sweetest little kid ever, and a real fighter. We got close. His parents died last night in a car crash, trying to get here. He only has a day or two left, Boss."

"What does he have?" Gibbs asked, "I couldn't find out."

"He has leukemia. Boss, why don't you just go? I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"Alright, call me if you need me." Gibbs left.

Brogan opened his eyes.

"Who was that?" Tim smiled.

"That was my boss. He was just checking on me."

"Where do you work, Tim? You never talk about work." Tim sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell ya. I work at a place called NCIS. That means Naval Criminal Investigative Service. We stop bad guys and put them in jail. Do you want to see a picture of our team?"

"Yes!" Brogan said, excited out of his mind. Tim grinned and pulled out his wallet, where a picture of the team was.

"That's Jimmy," he said, pointing to the autopsy gremlin, "and that right there is Ducky. He loves telling stories."

"What types of stories?" Brogan asked. Tim grinned.

"All types. He always has a story for everything."

"Who's that?" Brogan asked, pointing to Abby.

"That's Abby. She's a scientist. She's the nicest person I know," Tim said, smiling wistfully, "That's my friend Ziva. She's really nice to nice people, but incredibly mean to bad people."

"How mean?" Brogan asked with a grin. Tim grinned back.

"When she's angry, she's the scariest person in the world. She owns two guns and a knife that she always has with her."

"Wow," Brogan said in awe.

"Yeah. This here is my friend Tony. He's kind of obnoxious, but he's always there for us. He loves movies."

"He sounds funny.

"Yeah, yeah he is. Oh, and there's me, and that right there is my boss: Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He loves coffee, and he acts like a dad to us on his team."

"Wow. He must be a great guy."

"Yeah, he is. He takes care of all of us."

"Will he come back?"

"If we ask him to, he will." Brogan smiled.

"Can he come back?"

"Sure. I'll call him. Do you want to put on a movie?" Brogan nodded and turned on _Toy Story_.

Tim stepped out of the room and turned his phone.

"Tim, you alright?"

"I'm okay, Boss. Brogan was wondering if you could come and see him. I mentioned you, and he seemed really interested." He could almost hear Gibbs smiling on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, I can come. Do you want some coffee? I could bring some ice cream for Brogan," he trailed off.

"Could you, Boss? That'd be great,"

"Yeah, Tim. I'm here for both of you. Is he allergic to chocolate?"

"No, not chocolate. Boss, what are you planning?" Gibbs had hung up on him.

"You've got to be kidding me," he whispered.

"Is everything okay, Mr. Tim?" Brogan asked, looking concerned.

"A) You don't have to call me Mr. Tim. It's just Tim. B) Gibbs has a plan."

"What's wrong with that?" Tim laughed.

"You don't know him. I've worked with him for almost ten years. Any plan he has usually involves something bad happening to either me or a criminal." Brogan laughed sweetly. Tim loved that laugh. He had from day one.

_He stepped into the hospital. This was crazy, he thought. He didn't even know if this would work. He was finally listening to advice he'd gotten from Kayde._

"_You've gotta make a difference. Adults don't remember all the good. Kids remember good. Kids are who'll remember guys like us."_

_He hadn't taken it seriously at the time, but now he was here; at the children's hospital, about to spend his day off volunteering. He must be losing it. Yet, maybe it could work._

_Hours later, he saw a little boy enter with his parents. He looked terrified. He walked up to him, ignoring the fact that he was technically supposed to be setting up the puppet show._

"_Hey, are you okay?" he asked the boy. The boy shook his head._

"_No, Mom and Dad say I'm sick. I have to do some scary things if I want a chance to not be sick. I'm scared though."_

"_Hey, don't be scared," he said to the little boy, "Everybody has something scary they have to do. I know. Hey, if you can be brave, I will buy you some ice cream, okay?" The boy's eyes lit up._

"_Okay!" he said, "But one question."_

"_Shoot."_

"_What scary things do you have to do?" He knelt down and whispered something in his ears._

"_I have to keep my boss from killing his computer." The boy's eyes lit up and he laughed._

That had been months ago. That was when Brogan still had hope. Now, that was only a distant memory. Now, he wished they could go back to that time.


	3. Tradgedy

**A.N.: First off, I'd like to apologize for the delay. It's been hectic IRL, what with finals and all that crap. Plus, I'm working on a research report on Maria von Trapp. Nothing like looking up the Nazi's to get fanfic inspiration, eh? BTW, if you can't tell, that's sarcasm. Don't want anyone thinking I'm evil or something. Secondly, thank you so much for the great response to this fanfic. I'm really happy that people seem to be enjoying it. I'm thinking about one more installment, maybe two. **

Gibbs sighed. He was trying to find a decent coffee place. However, he had no idea where anything was in this city. It was confusing to say the least. Finally, he managed to find somewhere will acceptable coffee. He smiled. Now he could get the ice cream.

He still could barely believe it. He knew Tim didn't share a lot, but this was important! What else did he hide from them? He shook his head. He couldn't blame his agent for keeping this one under wraps.

_As Gibbs scanned through Tim McGee's file, desperately hoping for something, a woman entered. She was wearing scrubs and a name tag that said "Dr. Stephanie Michaels."_

"_Is Tim here?" she asked. The SSA looked up at the mention of his junior agent's name._

"_No," Tony said, staring at the woman. She was very pretty and he couldn't imagine Tim hiding this from him._

"_Oh, he left already?" she asked with a smile, "Good. The sooner he gets there, the better."_

"_Gets where, exactly?" Ziva asked._

"_To be with Brogan," the doctor said._

"_Who's Brogan?" Tony asked. Dr. Michaels looked startled. _

"_He didn't tell you? Well, I guess that makes sense. He likes to keep his personal and professional lives separated. It took me a month to get NCIS out of him."_

"_Can you tell us what's going on, then?" Gibbs finally asked._

And that was when he found out. It was typical Tim McGee, when he thought about it. Only his youngest agent, of anyone he had ever known, would keep something like volunteering at a children's hospital a secret. Sometimes he wondered how much of his agent's life was a secret to him. He knew everything about Abby. He could read Tony and Ziva. Why couldn't he figure out his junior agent?

He entered the ice cream store. He knew that Brogan was dying. Well, he'd make sure that Brogan had fun before he died.

Tim smiled as Brogan fell asleep again. His little buddy, as he'd nicknamed him ages ago, was very tired.

_Soon, _he thought, _Soon you'll be able to sleep forever._

He shook his head. It could be a damn depressing place to be stuck sometimes. Especially in his line of work. He needed to get away, but he also knew that he needed to be there for Brogan.

A nurse entered the room with a sad smile on her face. Her Muppet-themed scrubs seemed completely out of place given the situation.

"It must be difficult... seeing your son like this," she said. He looked at her.

"It would be... if he was my son. I'm just a friend, Nurse," he looked at her name tag, "Reynolds." She smiled.

"You can just call me Tanya. I'm working for the next eighteen hours, so we'll be around each other a lot during this." She placed a hand on his shoulder for a moment.

"Do you need anything?" Tanya asked.

"I'm fine, but thank you." She adjusted Brogan's blankets before leaving.

Tim sighed quietly. He hated hospitals. He hated waiting. But most of all, he hated waiting in hospitals. There was absolutely nothing he could do to help anyone. All that there was to do was wait. And despite what people thought, he was bad at waiting. When he was waiting for results for a case, there was always something else he could be doing; some lead to double-check, someone else to talk to. Now, there was nothing to do except watch and wait.

"You alright, McGee?" He turned around and saw Gibbs.

"I'm fine, Boss." The older man smirked.

"You know, you don't have to call me boss outside of the office. I do have a name." Tim smiled.

"I know. So, do you want me to guess your evil plan, or will you tell me what are in the bags?" Gibbs laughed.

"I'm not gonna tell you until Brogan wakes up."

McGee sighed. Of course Gibbs wasn't going to tell him anything.

"Tim?" the sweet innocent voice asked him. He smiled.

"Hey, Brogan. This is my boss, Agent Gibbs. Gibbs, this is Brogan." Gibbs smiled.

"Nice to meet ya, Brogan."

"Do you really catch bad guys?"Brogan asked eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah I do." Brogan's eyes widened.

"That's so cool! How do you do it?" Gibbs chuckled.

"Well, that's a long story. How bout I give you what I brought, and then we can talk?"

"What did you bring?" Brogan asked. Gibbs bent down and pulled out a rather large, extremely chocolatey malted milkshake.

"Thank you!" Brogan said cheerfully, sipping on the straw.

"Do want to tell one of your case stories, or should I?" McGee asked.

"You start, McGee."

"Okay, um, what should I start with?"

"Whatever one you like." McGee smiled.

"Alright, Brogan, do you remember my dog Jethro?"

Brogan nodded excitedly. The sugar was getting into his system.

"Well, we were serving a warrant at a man's house. I was at the back door in position. Then the next thing I know, I'm on the ground with a 90-pound dog trying to rip my head off of my neck. I tried to beat him off, and he bit my arm. I managed to move myself to where I'd dropped my gun. I managed to shoot him and get up."

Brogan gasped.

"That's awful! Why did he do that?"

"Well, we found a body in the house, as well as some bad things that made him act very badly. We processed the scene and Ducky told us he thought that the dog killed his owner."

"That's so awful!" Brogan said, "Did he?" Brogan began coughing.

"It's okay, buddy," Tim reassured him. He placed his hand on Brogan's shoulder, "Do you want me to just put on a movie and stop talking?" Brogan nodded as he continued to cough. McGee put on _Lion King._

"It's- okay- Agent- Gibbs," Brogan wheezed out, "I'm fine." A small frown, unnoticeable to most, crept onto McGee's face. After the coughing subsided, Brogan looked at the two people at his bedside.

"Tim, thank you," he whispered.

"I haven't done anything, Brogan."

"You've been my friend. Mommy and Daddy said that friends are the best thing ever." Tim smiled, placing his hand on Brogan's forehead, soothingly rubbing his thumb across it.

"They sure are." Brogan then turned to Gibbs.

"Are we friends, Agent Gibbs?" he asked. Gibbs nodded.

"Yeah, yeah we are." Brogan smiled.

"Daddy told me that I'd get to go to a special place where everybody gets to love everybody. He said that there would be lots of kids like me. Do you know any?" The two men looked at each other.

"Her name was Kelley," Gibbs said, looking the boy directly in the eyes.

"Kelley," Brogan repeated, "That's my mommy's name."

There was a moment when the only thing that mattered was that strange coincidence. Then, Brogan coughed one more time.

"I can say hi to her, if you want."

He looked at them for just a moment longer, a smile still on his face, before the heart rate monitor stopped beating. The angelic brown eyes had no life left in them.

Tears began to well up in McGee's eyes. Though he was determined not to cry in front of his boss, they fell anyways. Gibbs put a hand on his agent's shoulder as he cried.

Tim couldn't believe the pain he felt. He had only ever lost one loved one, and he'd only met his grandfather a few times. But this, this was unimaginable. He had no idea how anyone could survive the feeling of their chest combusting, or the brain's sudden surge as it attempts to comprehend the incomprehensible. All he knew was that nothing would ever be the same.

"Tim," came the gentle voice in his ear. It was Gibbs. He turned around to see his boss standing up.

"I'll be outside... getting coffee." Tim nodded without really knowing what he was doing.

"Oh, Brogan," he whispered, "If I'd had a day or two more, Agent Murray said I could have adopted you. I could have been your daddy." As he felt himself collapse onto the body, he felt like the world should be burning.

**A.N.: If it means anything, I'm acting exactly how I did with Mike Franks as I proofread this. Yeah, unlike Tim, I've lost a few people. To those who may know me IRL, this story goes out to Sara. Please continue to show your amazing support to this story. I really do appreciate each and every review, favorite, follow, and occasional add to a community!**


	4. Angst

**A.N.: I am so so so so so so so so sorry, guys! I just haven't been able to come up with anything for this, but now I have! There'll be one more chapter, and then it's the end.**

Tim cried. He cried and he cried until there was no more tears for him to cry with. He sniffled, wiping his shining moist face on the sleeve of his jacket.

"Man up, McGee," he said to himself sternly, "What would DiNozzo do if he saw you like this?"

Knowing full well what DiNozzo would do, he did it. And he did it again. He continued to hit himself on the back of the head until he had a migraine. At that point, he began to pace. He didn't know why he did it, since it never actually helped him.

Why? Why? Why was it always the innocent who went first? He saw so many innocent victims; people who were just trying to help or just didn't know what was going on around them. The bad guys so rarely met their ends the way he preferred. Not that he was interested in vigillante justice, but he did find satisfaction in the good guy killing the bad guy. It was times like these when he seriously wanted to strangle the Grimm brothers and every other fairy tale author. Happy endings just didn't exist in real life.

He got up. He needed to get away. He needed to run away. He had to be as far away from the small dead body. He ran out of the room, not caring who saw him or what anyone thought of him at this point. The world was crashing all around him.

He suddenly found himself in front of a huge Rube Goldburg machine. He sighed. He'd always loved machines, figuring out how they worked. It occupied his brain, making it impossiblee for him to focus on the pain. So he stared at it for a good long while before he lost all interest in the chain reaction.

Sometimes life was like a chain reaction. If you do one thing, another thing happens. It had always been so simple to him. But then other times there was no reason for anything; at least not to his knowledge. Why had Ari killed Kate? He didn't know. Why did Saleem hate the US? He didn't know. Why did Kai save him? He didn't know. Why did Brogan get cancer? He didn't know. Why didn't he know anything?

"Tim," Gibbs said from behind him. "Talk to me. Please."

He had never, ever heard Gibbs say please before. He turned man was way closer to him than he'd expected.

"Boss, he's gone. Gone forever. I just- I just," he began clawing at his chest. He looked up at Gibbs, realizing exactly what was going on.

"Here I am, talking to you when you lost your daughter. Brogan wasn't even family."

Gibbs watched his agent clawing at his heart. It was an action he had seen plenty of times, even on himself. He knew the pain, the desire to tear your heart out and never feel again.

"He was close enough."

The agent's eyes, usually bright and hopeful like the stars,were dead, cold, and bloodshot.

"I was going to adopt him. Hell, for all intents and purposes, he's my son. Now, I need to bury him."

Gibbs nodded, all too familiar with families having to bury their children. He had never expected that to be his agent.

He took the younger man's arm and dragged him over to get a cup of coffee. Black. He had never liked coffee much before Shannon and Kelly, but now, it was all he could tolerate aside from bourbon.

"Two black," Gibbs said to the lady at the counter. He ganced over at Tim, "Extra large."

"You don't need to-"

"Yeah, I do." They took the coffees and sat down.

"Tim, you're gonna need the team to get through this."

"No, no, I don't. No one else needs to know about this."

"That's your call. Just remember that my door's always open." Tim nodded.

_Brogan opened his eyes. There was a girl hovering over him._

"_Hi!" She said brightly, "I'm Kelly!"_

"_You're Gibbs' Kelly?" he asked. She nodded._

"_Your daddy says hi."_

"_I know. Come on, I have something to show you." She reached out a hand and he took it. They walked for a moment before they reached a door labeled "Observation," which Kelly opened._

"_We have a lot of things to do here," she said, "But sometimes, we just watch the people we love when they need it most."_

"_Who do you watch?"_

"_My daddy, my friend Maddy, and Daddy's team."_

"_You've been watching Tim?" _

"_I sure have been, Brogan. And I keep him safe, just like everyone else." _

_He looked around. There were TV's. Hundreds of thousands of them, each with a name on them. He read some names that he'd never heard, but some were people that he knew._

"_Dr. Stephanie!" he said, "I can watch her?"_

"_You can watch anyone alive, and help them sometimes, too."_

"_Where is Tim?" She took his hand and they walked for a few rows. _

"_Anthony DiNozzo Jr., Ziva David, Leroy Jethro Gibbs," he began reading. There was a pretty woman sitting in front of Tim's TV._

"_Come on," she muttered, "Don't ignore him, McGee. DiNozzo cares about you." _

"_This is Kate," Kelly said._

"_Hi," he said._

"_Brogan," she said, smiling, "I've been watching you. I'm sorry I couldn't help you too much."_

"_Well, I had Tim with me. That's enough."_


End file.
